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Old 03-30-2004, 01:01 PM   #1
Althern
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: A twin city divided by a great river... must be Osgiliath
Posts: 50
Althern has just left Hobbiton.
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I think the main reason i started this topic is to ask whether Tolkein was trying to make some kind of statement about how people act these days.
As you say, Tolkien’s dislike of allegory is well known; this was stated in the letter included at the beginning of the Silmarillion. In the same letter, he went on to say that any attempt to explain a myth would necessarily use allegorical language. So while the Middle Earth myth deals above all with the description of mythical events, it is sufficiently developed enough to contain enough themes that allow readers to explore whichever allegory currently interests them.

Is there a theme of the great and good falling from power? Of course there is. Was the exploration of this theme Tolkien’s purpose for Middle Earth, or even one of his purposes? I would suggest not. Is it possible that a story is just a story? That the narrative elements primarily serve the purposes of good narrative?
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